Sometimes I like to imagine that the FEI General Assembly is a mad tea party, and the USEA is Alice, and now it’s Alice’s turn to report to her constituency at the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention about what we’re going to do about what happened at the tea party. Man, I’m glad I’m not Alice.
Speaking of which, today should be interesting. The USEF Eventing Technical Committee is meeting first thing this morning, and a discussion of the new FEI rules and qualifications for 2013 is expected to be at the top of the committee’s agenda. The short version of the change approved at last month’s FEI General Assembly, set to take effect Jan. 1, involves a new matrix of eligibility for CIC and CCI events. Now, in addition to national federation requirements, you’ve got to do a CIC* before you do a CIC**, a CIC* or a CIC** plus an additional CIC** before you do a CCI**, etc. etc. According to the Chronicle, “the [USEF] Eventing Committee has asked the FEI to delay the implementation of the matrix of eligibility requirements until 2014 so they can have time to review and make sense of them, but they haven’t received a decision yet.” (Read COTH’s roundup of other eventing-related FEI changes here.) Thankfully, John will be bringing us the latest from the USEF Eventing Technical Committee Open Forum, which takes place immediately afterward.
Here’s the full day’s schedule:
7:30 AM – 5:00 PM USEA Convention Registration
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM USEA Trade Fair Vendors
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM USEF Eventing Technical Committee (Committee Members Only)
9:30 AM – 12:00 PM USEF Eventing Technical Committee Open Forum
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Covering Ground: Perserving our Barns, Training Grounds, and Competition Venues
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Eventing Calendar Planning for 2014 and Beyond
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Membership Committee (Committee Members Only)
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Course Advisors Committee (Committee Members Only)
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Professional Horseman’s Council
3:00 PM – 4:30 PM Young Event Horse Committee (Committee Members Only)
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Joint Health Facts: What You May Not Know? Presented by Adequan
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM USEF Active Athletes Open Forum
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM Eventing Course Designers/Builders (Committee Members Only)
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM Xentry Explained
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM USEF Event Owner’s Task Force
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM Eventing Licensed Officials Committee (Committee Members Only)
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM USEA Board of Governors’ Reception & Live Auction
8:00 PM – 9:30 PM USEA Executive/Admin and Finance Committees Joint Meeting (Committee Members Only)
For more information on the USEA Annual Meeting and Convention, visit the USEA website.
The German Olympic Equestrian Committee announced yesterday that Totilas and Matthias Alexander Rath have been dropped from the German Championship squad. The decision came after a year in which Matthias and Totilas failed to compete at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen and then the Olympic Games in London. The only CDI they did compete in was the CDI4* in Hagen, Germany in April, where they won but came under fire after the publication of photos of Rath riding Totilas in rollkur in the warmup. [Dressage-News]
U.S. eventing might be in hibernation, but the sport is going strong in New Zealand. This weekend’s Puhinui Three-Day Event has 12 combinations vying for honors in the CCI3* class. The event marks the halfway stage in the Bell Tea Super League, with three-day events earning winners double points. [Horse Talk NZ]
During the recent World Horse Welfare Conference, a panel of equestrian experts discussed the topic of what are acceptable methods of training for competition horses and what oversteps the line to constitute abuse. Horse & Hound has some video of the very interesting proceedings on its site. [H&H]
Best of the Blogs: Jennie Brannigan penned a touching tribute to Phillip Dutton’s longtime groom Emma Ford, who is leaving True Prospect Farm to begin a new chapter in her life in Aiken, S.C. She writes, “Emma does the horses for all the right reasons, and I think it’s so important to try to keep that in mind when we’re all doing what we’re doing.” [COTH]
Eric Dierks wrote a great one, too, titled “Do you know what you are riding for?” He advocates for rider accountability and true commitment to the basics, rather than chasing ribbons or thrills. [Eric Dierks Eventing]
Found on Facebook: It sounds like young rider McKenna Oxenden is doing her winter homework. She writes, “Nothing like flatting two horses stirrupless and then running a few miles.” Look for McKenna’s column each Thursday on Horse Nation.
Video: The theme of this week’s episode of Evention is “Winterising: How to prepare yourself, barn and horse for the cold wintery months.” Best Evention tip-of-the-day ever: “Move somewhere warmer!” Good one, Dom. Evention is produced weekly by Jimmie and Dom Shramm of Schramm Equestrian and filmed by Right Start Photography. Subscribe to Evention’s YouTube Channel here for brand new tutorials and updates on other happenings in the eventing world each week!
